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Ridley High School is well known for its complicated dress code. Many Ridley students are aware of the main points of our uniform (collar is mandatory, no hoodies, no leggings, etc.) But the minor details are still in the dark. many students claim they do not know all the rules on what students can and cannot wear.

It is a well known fact that if a student is attending RHS they will need to follow the dress code and if they do not, there will be consequences. Although many kids are aware that they go to school out of dress code and they could get written up, they do it anyway.

What if one of the reasons why students are not in dress code is because they do not completely know the dress code in its entirety? Ridley’s dress code is constantly changing and can be very indistinguishable at any moment during the school year. Therefore, a student could be out of dress code and not know but still get written up.

The school is also inconsistent with how they treat the students who are not in correct dress code. For example, a girl might wear a pair of leggings to school and her first block teacher doesn’t mind the small nuisance and does not bother writing her up. But, in her second block the teacher cannot stand when students are out of dress code and writes each and every kid up even if it is the smallest of problems.

That situation could also happen with completely different students; one student could be completely out of dress code and still not get written up because that teacher does not mind when the rules of dress code are not fully followed. While another student would have to follow the exact dress code to avoid getting written up because his teachers are more strict when it comes down to dressing in school attire.

Most students view that inconsistency as unfairness against students who are at risk of getting written up. That inconsistency also creates more limitation towards what students can wear. “Annoying and hard to find clothes,” Kayla Oberg says.

Even though it is important to look and dress appropriately, junior Alexis Burns states, “I see how we would have to use it later in life for jobs.” The school still takes it a little far if they are willing to pull students out of class and away from their education to write them up for being out of dress code. “The school cares more about what we wear than our education,” states senior Fatouma Balde. Based on the way the school portrays the importance of what we wear, compared to the importance of how we’re learning, Fatouma appears to be correct.

A good fraction of the people in Ridley High School are not completely harmonious with the way the dress code turned out, the inequality of dress code enforcement, and inconsistency with each individual rule.